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Among the two Romanian and two Hungarian historians invited to this year’s meeting were Sándor Szakály, Director of the VERITAS Research Institute for History (The Horthy Era, contemporary Hungarian-German relations); Ottmar Trasca, Research Fellow at the Romanian Academy of Sciences’ Cluj-Napoca-based Research Center (Romanian-German relations, the deportations of the Romanian Jews); and Dávid Turbucz, Research Fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Research Center for the Humanities (The 1944 deportations from Hungary), all of whom shared their professional opinions on the issue in question. Sándor Thoroczkay, history teacher, gave an introductory presentation. Liviu Rotman, who could not be present, sent a letter summarizing his thoughts on the initiative, which was read aloud in Romanian by Miklós Décsei, the head of the Szatmár Jewish faith commune, and in Hungarian by Rudolf Krakkó. The research-summarizing work of Randolph L. Braham, the Bucharest-born well-known Holocaust researcher, was referred to, which as a primary source substantively refutes the assertion that the Horthy Era had been a perilous time for the Jews, for as can be found in his book – until the Nazi occupation, Hungary had been the lone country in the region where the Jews had had relative security. Not only had the Jews not been expelled, but up until spring 1944, when the Nazis occupied Hungary, the Jews residing in the neighboring countries had been fleeing there, which the Nazi leadership had deeply resented.

The historians immersed the church audience in facts supported by real data. Since all three of them were recognized experts in the topic, the audience got a detailed summation of the events leading up to the deportations and the goals thereof. There was a consensus agreement among the historians that there had been no possible way to block the deportation of the Jews in the political climate of the time. However, Horthy had erred when he did not make use of every possibility at his disposal to delay the deportations. At the same time, the use of the descriptor “fascist” to describe Horthy was absurd, just as the term “Horthyist” struck a false note, for there was no definite meaning for that word. Who or what could be referred to as a “Horthyist”? According to all three of the historians, using the “Horthyist-Fascist-Hungarian phrase was ahistorical, professionally objectionable and carried with it a negative connotation. As such, these types of phrases had no place whatsoever in commemorative texts.

 In the end there was consensus that the initiative was an important step, and that the wording, by all means, had to be modified. Reinforcing the message of the earlier forum, the presenters, as well as the educators from Szatmár who were present, concurred with the initiators on the following wording: “Deportations were carried with the involvement of the authorities in National Socialist Germany-occupied Hungary.”

As a next step, Rudolf Krakkó, Sándor Kereskényi and Sándor Thoroczkay would rewrite the wording of the two inscriptions, while Krakkó would also turn to the proper institutional authorities with an official appeal. Then actor Miklós Tóth-Pál came up with an awareness-raising suggestion: On the assumption that the planned modification were not accepted, then “the Hungarians of Szatmár County must create and dedicate its own commemorative plaque, one that reflects historical accuracy”.

 Written by Tamás Oszlánszki
Photos: Csilla Megyesi